A Dutch cruise ship with nearly 150 people aboard, including 17 Americans, was waiting for help off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after a suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus killed three passengers and left at least three others seriously ill, the World Health Organization and the ship’s operator said.
The MV Hondius, which was on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and then several isolated islands in the South Atlantic, had requested help from local health authorities on Sunday after making its way to the island of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa, but no one has yet been allowed to disembark, the company operating the cruise said.
There are 88 passengers – including one who has died – and 61 crew members, two of whom are sick, onboard, the operator said Monday. The passengers include 17 Americans, 19 from the U.K. and 13 from Spain, among other nationalities.
The three passengers to die were from the Netherlands and Germany. The German remains on board. A British man is in intensive care in South Africa.
There are four Canadians on board.
A 70-year-old Dutch man who presented with fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea was the first victim and died onboard on April 11, the ship’s Netherlands-based operator Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement giving new details. His body was taken off the vessel nearly two weeks later on the British territory of Saint Helena, some 1,900 kilometers off the African coast, and was awaiting repatriation.
His 69-year-old wife was transferred to South Africa at the same time but collapsed at a Johannesburg airport and died at a nearby hospital, the South African Department of Health said.
The ship then sailed on to Ascension Island, another isolated Atlantic outpost about (1,300 kilometers to the north, where a sick British man was taken off the ship and evacuated to South Africa on April 27. He later tested positive for hantavirus, a rare infection spread by rodents that can cause serious respiratory illness or hemorrhagic fever, the South African health department said.
He is in a critical condition and is now in intensive care in a South African hospital, where he is being kept isolated, authorities said.
A third passenger died onboard on Saturday and was identified as a German national. The body is still on the ship, the cruise operator said. It specified that the three deaths are not yet confirmed to be hantavirus as the only person confirmed to have the virus is the man in intensive care in South Africa.
WHO said that while only one hantavirus case was confirmed through tests, the other five cases were suspected to be hantavirus.
The cruise ship is asking Cape Verde for help
Two crew members still onboard the Hondius – one British, one Dutch – need urgent medical care, Oceanwide said, adding it was still awaiting permission from local authorities in Cape Verde on Monday to evacuate passengers and crew members. The company said it was considering moving to one of the Spanish islands of Las Palmas or Tenerife if it couldn’t get people off the ship in Cape Verde.
The World Health Organization had said Sunday that it was working with local authorities and the ship’s operators to conduct a “full public health risk assessment” and was trying to coordinate the evacuation of the two sick people from the ship.
“Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations,” WHO said. “Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.”
The Dutch Foreign Ministry said it was also exploring the possibilities of evacuating some people from the ship.
Hantavirus is rare
Hantaviruses, which are found throughout the world, are a family of viruses spread mainly by contact with the urine or feces of infected rodents like rats and mice. They gained attention after actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus infection in New Mexico last year.
In rare cases, hantavirus infections can be spread between people, WHO said. There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.
Hantaviruses cause two serious syndromes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, affecting the lungs, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, affecting the kidneys.
“While severe in some cases, it is not easily transmitted between people,” Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said in a statement Monday. “The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions.”
If you enjoyed or found this story useful, we’d appreciate if you would forward it to a colleague or friend who may also enjoy it. If, on the other hand, a friend shared it with you, welcome! You can get all the latest travel news and reviews from Travel Industry by simply clicking HERE.